


Clever Maid Ibronka

by The_Lights_Dance_On



Series: Of Psychopaths [4]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Blood and Gore, Class Differences, Clever Ibronka, Deal with a Devil, Devils, Dumb Villagers, Execution, F/M, Folklore, Gore, Happy Ending, Hungarian Fairytale, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Marriage of Convenience, The Eating of Brains, church, churchyard, fairytale, fairytales - Freeform, hungary - Freeform, society
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 21:03:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21434680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lights_Dance_On/pseuds/The_Lights_Dance_On
Summary: Based on the Hungarian fairytalePretty Maid Ibronka.
Series: Of Psychopaths [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1540624
Kudos: 3





	Clever Maid Ibronka

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful girl, and so beautiful was she that whilst she was growing up, everyone that lived in her village called her ‘beautiful girl Ibronka.’ But by the time she had almost grown and was at the age to receive suitors, everyone had noticed that her eyes, however lovely, were always sharp; that she was never moved by a child crying, nor a beautiful song at Mass; and that she was so terse to any suitor that came to her that none ever lasted. And so they called her ‘cold maid Ibronka.’ 

Ibronka knew that they called her cold, and it greatly unsettled her. ‘To think I am so lovely,’ she would say to the other girls when she overheard them (because Ibronka had ears as sharp as a bat’s), ‘and so clever, and all you mind is that I do not care if a child cries, or if I am moved by Mass. I have plenty of feeling – I simply do not show it like you silly girls do, wailing and weeping everywhere.’ 

Most of them scoffed and walked away, but some of the kinder girls felt guilty, as kind girls often do.

‘It may be that she is simply very composed, and lovely in soul,’ said one girl to the others. ‘Or maybe she is even afraid to show her feelings, as many people often are.’

And many of the girls began to feel ashamed when they heard her talk this way. Their shame spread as everything does in villages, so they stopped calling her Cold Maid Ibronka. And this made her happy. 

It then so happened that a weary traveller stopped at their village, his shoes all worn through and both he and his horse aching all over with hunger. Food and water were brought to him, and he was given at a seat at the richest man in all the town’s table, because it was plain to all that could see him that he was a fine-looking young man who had been taught excellent manners.

The traveller had had a very unfortunate life. His mother had passed him her lovely features, and taught him the respectability that he carried so well, but then she had died. His father was a baron, but rather a weak man, and the loss of his wife weakened him still. The next wife he had chosen was money-hungry and spiteful, and she favoured her own children. Whilst they lazed about and she exerted her power as a baroness in cruel and self-serving ways, he was made to work as a stable-boy.

‘I do not blame you for leaving,’ said all the villagers, and they nodded in agreement to one another.

‘I do not mind hard work,’ said the baron, ‘and I like horses. So I endeavoured to work as my step-mother encouraged me, and then I might become a brighter sight for her eyes. But then she did something quite unforgivable. I had been courting a most beautiful girl who was working under the cook. But when my step-siblings found out about this, they schemed to take away my happiness and told their mother that she was an indecent woman. And my love was taken away and executed outside the castle walls.’ 

When the villagers heard this, they were horrified, and asked him if he wished to talk to the priest about mourning.

‘I did at home,’ said the baron, ‘and then I leapt on my horse and galloped away. Even though all the love and grief in my heart has been removed now, I could not stay there any longer. But because my father is a powerful man, and my step-mother exerts her power in cruel and self-serving ways, I did not dare stop until I was far away. It is the reason I have stumbled on your village so ungraciously, hungry and tattered.’ 

And of the course the villagers rebuked him for even apologising, and encouraged him to eat more food, and asked if he was looking for a second wife.

‘I have been looking all along my travels,’ he said, ‘and I mean no unkindness to any of the maids here, but the girl I was courting had beauty that one would expect of the heavens. Even though all the love and grief in my heart has been removed now, I wish to respect her memory and only marry a woman of equal beauty.’

‘Equal beauty to such a woman will be difficult to find,’ said all the villagers, and they nodded in agreement to one another. 

‘But what,’ said one of the girls who was present, ‘of Beautiful Maid Ibronka?’ And because all the villagers had already chastised themselves for being unkind to her, they immediately nodded their heads and suggested the baron should meet her. 

Because he was a very gracious man, he said to himself, ‘why, I have no reason to disbelieve these kind people, who have listened to my tale and given me food and water!’ He steeled his heart and endeavoured to speak to Ibronka that very same day, because although he was a courageous man, he thought that if he left it any time at all his resolve would wilt like a flower. And so he came to Ibronka, who was sewing by herself, without even changing his clothes. 

‘How beautiful she is!’ he said to himself as he approached, ‘and what sharp eyes! It is a lucky man who has a clever woman for a wife.’ And those were the thoughts he relayed to her.

‘I do not know who has been telling you of my beauty, nor do I know who you are,’ said Ibronka.

‘I am a baron who has ridden a long way,’ he replied. 

‘I do not know of a baron who should smell so keenly, nor appear to me in such worn shoes and tattered clothes,’ said Ibronka. ‘Why do you lie? Your have fine cheekbones, and thick hair; a village-girl will marry you even if you are a stable-boy, and she will not mind having to persuade her father.’

‘I want no village-girl; I want you,’ said the baron, ‘for your beauty and your sharpness, and now your honesty, have persuaded me that you would be a wonderful wife and worthy of replacing my first love.’ And he told her of all his life’s woes, and she met them with such coldness that he walked into a river and drowned himself. Nobody would have known what had happened, except all the birds had heard her, and so indignant were they on behalf of the baron that they told all the villagers.

‘How shameful,’ said all the villagers, ‘that you should treat such a man with such cruelty, and give our village a poor name, and show not even a shred of remorse about it.’ And they all nodded in agreement to one another. None of the boys in the village would even speak to her, so afraid were they of plunging to their deaths, and they all went back to calling her ‘Cold Maid Ibronka.’ Even after a year, they did not stop calling her this. 

Ibronka was very dissatisfied, and soon rebuked the girls again. ‘To think I am so lovely, and so clever, and all you mind is that a sad baron who nobody knew properly fell into a river. I have plenty of feeling – I simply do not show it like you silly girls do, wailing and weeping everywhere.’ 

‘If you had feeling,’ said the girls, who were by now all married, ‘you would have wed a suitor. But you drove yours into a river, and a finer man he was than all of our husbands.’ And not even the kindest girl felt regret as they scoffed and walked away.

Ibronka thought this probably true, but there was surely no way to marry, for all the boys were still frightened of her. ‘I should marry the next man who fashioned himself a suitor of mine,’ she said to herself, ‘even if he was a devil.’ 

It then so happened that a handsome traveller stopped at their village, his shoes polished and both he and his horse laden with gold and purple leather. He bowed very smartly to the villagers, and gave gifts that shocked even the richest man in the village, and told his story. 

The traveller was a prince and had lived a very unfortunate life. His mother the Queen had passed him her lovely features, but died very young, and so miserable was he without her that the King had walked into a river. He had been raised by his aunt, who was a sharp and stingy woman, and she still clung to the vast majority of his fortune.

‘To think these heaps of gold are only a small part of it!’ said all the villagers, and they nodded in agreement with one another.

‘This is more than enough to live on,’ said the traveller, ‘so I was not concerned, because my aunt is old and will soon die, and then all the money will be mine. But she knows this, and longed for the money to be received by my cousin, who is stingy as she is and would never use it. And because of this she plotted to have me taken away and executed outside the castle walls. So I leapt on my horse and galloped away, and have not stopped riding for forty days and forty nights. It is when I reached your blessed village that I felt safe.’

When the villagers heard this, they were all horrified, and suggested he go to the priest for counsel. 

‘But how,’ said one of the girls who was present there, ‘are your shoes so bright and new, and your horse so sleek and well-fed, if you have ridden so tirelessly?’ 

The prince ignored her, then saying that he would like to build his own house in the village and find himself a wife.

‘They cannot possibly follow me all of this way away,’ he assured the anxious villagers, ‘for my aunt is old, and my cousin is sickly. I would like to settle here as I wait for her to die.’ 

‘Very well,’ said the villagers, ‘we would be happy for any girl to marry a man of your beauty and wealth.’

He looked at all the village-girls, and then shook his head, and said, ‘I mean no unkindness to any of the maids here, but I am a beautiful man, and a wealthy one, and a prince. You are all village-people, and so she would have to be very beautiful and very clever for me to consider marrying her. Is there no such maid?’

‘No,’ said the villagers, because they were afraid of what might happen to the prince if he met Cold Maid Ibronka.

‘But he is well-dressed,’ said one of the girls who was present there, ‘and a handsome man, so surely she has little reason to be cruel to him. Except that he has lived a very unfortunate life, but he seems hardly sensitive about it, almost as if he was a devil. I do not think he should walk into a river just by speaking to Cold Maid Ibronka.’

And all the villagers nodded, because what she said made sense, and they told him that such a girl was sewing not a small while away.

‘How beautiful she is!’ he said to himself as he approached, ‘and what sharp eyes! I think she is worthy of becoming my wife.’ And these were the thoughts that he relayed to her.

‘I do not know who has been telling you of my beauty, nor do I know who you are,’ said Ibronka.

‘I am a prince who has ridden a long way,’ he replied. 

‘I can see that you are a prince,’ said Ibronka, ‘even if I do not think you are from far away, and so I will marry you.’ And they stayed there talking a while, because both were very knowledgeable. Whilst she was sewing, she dropped her needle and bent to pick it up from where it had landed, by his foot. And as her hand passed over it, she realised that she was feeling not a man’s foot, but a cloven hoof. 

‘Well!’ she said to herself, ‘I think I may have promised myself to a devil. But did I not say I would marry one if he came? And at least no-one will call me Cold Maid Ibronka anymore, and I will be richer than all of them silly village girls.’ So she said nothing, and decided not to investigate or think any more about it. 

They announced their engagement that very night. Ibronka’s family were happy, because she told them that he was rich, but the rest of the villagers were suspicious. Many of them whispered about the prince, and his polished shoes and his sleek horse, and none of them liked Cold Maid Ibronka. As it was this way, when Ibronka’s father came home, he spoke very sternly. 

‘I have heard strange things about the man you have promised yourself to,’ he said. ‘I should like to meet him at once.’

So Ibronka went out to where she knew the prince was staying, and to her astonishment they told her he was not there any longer. They sent her to a clearing, and there was already a beautiful palace there. The walls were silver, and the doors were gold, and each knocker was a goat’s head made of bronze. And she made up her mind to marry him there and then. 

‘My father would like to meet with you,’ she said. ‘Behave politely, because it will be easier, but I say now that nothing they can say will change my mind about marrying you.’ And the prince agreed to this because it made sense. He was so polite that Ibronka’s mother and brother were quite taken with him, and whilst her father still was suspicious, he could not find one fault in him. 

The prince said farewell very charmingly, and he embraced her. Ibronka thought this very forward, but embraced him back, and as she did, she felt her arms slip right through his ribcage. 

‘Well!’ she said to herself, ‘I think I may have promised myself to a devil. But did I not say I would marry one if he came? And at least no-one will call me Cold Maid Ibronka anymore, and I will be richer than all of them silly village girls.’ So she said nothing, and decided not to investigate or think any more about it. 

Eight days before their wedding, the village was all alight with festivity, because the prince had promised to pay for a large celebration. It was so large that Ibronka had worried it might be a waste of their wealth.

‘Look at all these cows,’ she said. ‘What if your aunt has sterner bones than you have imagined? We will be living in poverty waiting for her to die.’

‘Hush, Ibronka,’ he said, ‘for I tell you that if you look at my piles of gold, not one coin has disappeared from the stores.’

‘Do you think me a fool?’ asked Ibronka. ‘You cannot have all of these cows to slaughter and not spend even one gold coin.’ 

‘Hush, Ibronka,’ he said, ‘for I tell you that if you look at my piles of gold, not one coin has disappeared from the stores.’

‘Do you think me a weak-willed woman?’ asked Ibronka. ‘It is poor manners to tell me to hush. I ask you to answer my question and do so politely.’

‘My apologies, Ibronka,’ he said. ‘But I tell you that if you look at my piles of gold, not one coin has disappeared from the stores.’ 

And so Ibronka went down to the stores and was astonished to see that not one coin had disappeared from there. She returned home and thought for many hours, and decided that she had indeed promised herself to a devil.

‘I have already said that I would marry one if he came,’ she said to herself, ‘but if I am to be married to a devil, I should know about it!’ And she walked out of her chambers with all intent of going to confront the prince then and there. But as she opened the door, a figure stole past her!

‘But look how tall he is,’ she said, ‘and how fine his bone structure. That is my husband; my very own husband; stealing away in the night!’ 

And the figure turned and said, ‘are you there, Ibronka?’

She was worried that he might strike her, or do some other devilish thing, if he thought her there. So she said nothing and stayed still, and he carried on his way.

The next day it was now seven days before their wedding. Ibronka was very distressed, and so she devised a plan. She sewed all day by her husband’s bedside, saying that it comforted her heart to be close. He was not suspicious, because the villagers all told him that that was common for a woman before marrying. And so before he fell asleep, she placed a ball of thread in his pocket, holding onto it very firmly in her own hand. And then she crept inside the wardrobe, which was made of gold. 

It was not even an hour before he woke again, and stole out of the room. The ball unravelled as he walked, and then Ibronka followed a spool's distance away, silent like a mouse, behind him. They went all the way to the church.

‘How silly I have been,’ said Ibronka to herself. ‘I have been thinking my husband a devil because he prays.’

But he went further, out into the churchyard, and fear crept into her heart again. She looked through the keyhole and saw him there, sawing a dead woman’s head in two. He opened it like one would a melon and then began feasting on the brains.

‘Well!’ she said, ‘I think I may have promised myself to a devil. And I said that I would marry a man with hooves, and I said that I would marry a man that was all ribcage. But feasting on brains is quite another matter!’

‘Are you there, Ibronka?’ he asked her, blood all smeared round his mouth. But she was worried that he might strike her, or do some other devilish thing, if he thought her there. So she said nothing and stayed still, and he carried on his meal. He ate the brains of three women, but no men.

The next day it was now six days before their wedding. Ibronka was very distressed, but thought that this could possibly not be dealt with until she understood more. The next night she did not bother with any thread, because she knew where he was going. She went straight to the churchyard. 

‘Are you there, Ibronka?’ he asked her, blood all smeared round his mouth. But she was worried that he might strike her, or do some other devilish thing, if he thought her there. So she said nothing and stayed still, and he carried on his meal. That night he ate the brains of four women, but no men. 

The next day it was five days before their wedding, and Ibronka was beginning to despair. She was not sure how you dealt with your husband eating people’s brains. She crept that night to the churchyard. He was there, but he was not eating, but scowling and kicking all the graves. Ibronka was very puzzled.

‘Why should he not come eat tonight?’ she said to herself. She looked around the churchyard and at the bodies there, and suddenly Clever Maid Ibronka realised.

‘He cannot eat the brains of those that are long dead,’ she said, ‘and only seven women have died in the village recently. He has eaten all that he can.’ And she thought that now she understood her soon-to-be-husband. She grasped the key that was hanging by the door and stepped away from it.

The devil turned and said, ‘are you there, Ibronka?’

‘Yes, I am,’ said Ibronka boldly, ‘and have been the past three nights.’ And she threw the key into the door and slammed it closed, and ran away as fast as she could to her father’s house.

The next day it was four days before their wedding, and Ibronka could hear screaming outside. She opened the window and there was no-one screaming, but her soon-to-be-husband was standing in the garden.

‘What did you see the nights you watched me, Ibronka?’ he said, and Ibronka pretended that she knew nothing.

‘I watched you no night but this one, beloved,’ she said, ‘and what a fine sight you are!’

She would only repeat this, until he grew very angry, and said, ‘if you do not answer my question, your father shall die.’

‘So be it,’ said Ibronka, ‘for I have answered your question.’ And the next day her father died and was buried.

The next day it was three days before their wedding, and Ibronka could hear screaming outside. She opened the window and there was no-one screaming, but her soon-to-be-husband was standing in the garden.

‘What did you see the nights you watched me, Ibronka?’ he said, and Ibronka pretended that she knew nothing.

‘I watched you no night but this and the last one, beloved,’ she said, ‘and what a fine sight you are!’

She would only repeat this, until he grew very angry, and said, ‘if you do not answer my question, your brother shall die.’

‘So be it,’ said Ibronka, ‘for I have answered your question.’ And the next day her brother died and was buried.

The next day it was two days before their wedding, and Ibronka could hear screaming outside. She opened the window and there was no-one screaming, but her soon-to-be-husband was standing in the garden.

‘What did you see the nights you watched me, Ibronka?’ he said, and Ibronka pretended that she knew nothing.

‘I watched you no night but this one and the two nights before, beloved,’ she said, ‘and what a fine sight you are!’

She would only repeat this, until he grew very angry, and said, ‘if you do not answer my question, your mother shall die.’

‘So be it,’ said Ibronka, ‘for I have answered your question.’ And the next day her mother died and was buried.

The night before her wedding, Ibronka woke the priest and all the girls and the rest of the villagers, and cried that they must all come to the churchyard.

‘The girl has gone mad with grief,’ said all the villagers, and they nodded in agreement with one another.

‘Grief!’ said Ibronka. ‘You call me cold, because I am! I tell you, in plain rationality, come! I have promised myself to a devil.’

‘She is very cold,’ said one of the girls who was present, ‘and we do call her Cold Maid Ibronka. And we were all suspicious of the prince.’ And the villagers nodded because what she said made sense, and they all followed.

When they burst into the churchyard, Ibronka’s soon-to-be-husband was feasting on her mother’s brains, as she knew he would be. And all the villagers gasped in horror, and then they took the devil and executed him outside the village walls, and burnt the ashes of his body.

After that they all called her Clever Maid Ibronka, which she liked better than Cold or Beautiful, and nobody objected when she moved into the golden palace.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> This short story, like all of them in my 'Of Psychopaths' series, has been completed as part of my EPQ project. It would be really helpful if you could complete a survey on Ibronka's character: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/T73P8HR
> 
> It shouldn't take more than two minutes and would be very helpful!


End file.
